I have found olive oil is a great source of good fat. Just do not cook with it because heats destroys all of its good properties.

Olive oil is actually one of the more heat-resistant oils out there and is alright to cook with once or twice (as in, don't stick it in a deep fryer or anything). The thicker the oil the greater its heat resistance, but any unsaturated fat runs the risk of converting to trans fat upon heating. Canola oil and corn oil right turn to trans fats if you heat them too much; in regards to that a more saturated fat like coconut oil is best because the way the chemistry works out is that saturated fat will not turn into trans fat no matter how much you heat it. At worst, it will just burn up (not that you want a bonfire in your kitchen or anything).

I keep stocked up on olive oil, coconut oil, butter and flax oil at all times. Flax oil really gets messed up when you heat it, says so right on the bottle, so I dump it over salads and into protein shakes, etc. I've also started saving up left-over bacon fat in a little bowl so I might try cooking with it someday; lard actually has less saturated fat than butter and tastes amazing so I'm looking forward to the experience.

Disclaimer: I'm not professionally qualified to make any formal recommendations. I've just done my homework and I'm my own guinea pig. All of my data, unless otherwise cited, comes from a sample size of n=1 (me).

Olive oil is actually one of the more heat-resistant oils out there and is alright to cook with once or twice (as in, don't stick it in a deep fryer or anything). The thicker the oil the greater its heat resistance, but any unsaturated fat runs the risk of converting to trans fat upon heating. Canola oil and corn oil right turn to trans fats if you heat them too much; in regards to that a more saturated fat like coconut oil is best because the way the chemistry works out is that saturated fat will not turn into trans fat no matter how much you heat it. At worst, it will just burn up (not that you want a bonfire in your kitchen or anything).

I keep stocked up on olive oil, coconut oil, butter and flax oil at all times. Flax oil really gets messed up when you heat it, says so right on the bottle, so I dump it over salads and into protein shakes, etc. I've also started saving up left-over bacon fat in a little bowl so I might try cooking with it someday; lard actually has less saturated fat than butter and tastes amazing so I'm looking forward to the experience.

Flaxseed oil also has the benefit of making things stick to your ribs a little longer. Good for keeping hunger under control.

Tandoor is right on with the natural fats. This is one of the reasons taking a fish oil supplement is important.

As for midwestj's post:

General rule of thumb is your maintenance is 11x body weight. So yours is about 2400. I confirmed this with my bod pod testing, mine worked out be alomst exactly 11x my weight. This assumes about 2-4 hours per week of exercise, if you do more then your maintenance is a bit higher (x12).

If you want to lose weight you have to be in a deficit, I would suggest starting at 2000 calories per day and see how that goes. If you keep your protein at around 1g per pound of fat free mass, you should preserve and perhaps build muscle as well.

Whether or not you build muscle is highly dependant on you fitness level. If you've been lifting for a while and are relativley lean you will not likely build muscle on a deficit. If you still have a good amount of fat and are relatively knew to lifting, you will almost for sure build muscle on a deficit.

I thought maintenance was a little higher and to be in a general deficit body weight x 11 is a good rule of thumb, at least thats what my nutrition books said. I am taking in right around 2330 a day give or take.

I've also been getting stronger, every couple of workouts I increase resistance on all my exercises about 5 pounds or more depending on the lift.

I haven't been in the gym for a couple years but I'm definitely no stranger to lifting weights either.

I'm not going for huge gains but I'm also not just looking to maintain my current lean mass, I want more.